17.46 The Guardian's Media Monkey column comments on the brevity of James Dingemans QC's evidence for Express newspapers today.

It claims proprietor Richard Desmond is giving the inquiry the "silent treatment":

Desmond's Express and Star titles flounced out of the Press Complaints Commission at the start of the year, an absence that is seen as catastrophic for the industry's self-regulatory regime as it finds itself in the spotlight during Leveson. And there was no sign of Desmond – or anyone from his company Northern & Shell – at the Society of Editors conference either.

Richard Desmond, the owner of Express Newspapers, has opted out of the PCC

17.34 News that former journalist and Cabinet minister Lord Fowler has told the House of Lords that he's worried a press campaign is seeking to "deny the importance" of the Leveson Inquiry.

He said continued pleas for self-regulation were ignoring the important role of the inquiry:

It is the past failure of the press to take action that had led to this independent inquiry in the first place.

And isn't its importance underlined furthermore by the mounting evidence that the phone-hacking scandal extends beyond the News of the World to other newspapers as well?

Baroness Rawlings, speaking for the Government, said she wasn't aware of an anti-inquiry campaign.

17.00 Here is a quick round-up of the main points to come out of today's proceedings:

• Rhodri Davies QC, lawyer for News International, apologised to hacking victims, admitting the practice was "shameful" and "wrong"• He said NI disputed that the names of 28 NI journalists were found in the notebooks of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Davies said the group was only aware of five• He asked for the numbers read out by Robert Jay QC to be re-checked• Davies said he "could not guarantee" that phone hacking stopped at NotW in 2007, after the prosecution of royal reporter Clive Goodman• Jonathan Caplan QC, acting for Associated Newspapers, said Operation Motorman uncovered no evidence that journalists at the Daily Mail asked private investigator Steve Whittamore to do anything illegal• Caplan urged journalists to "give evidence openly", without fear or retribution or speaking out against editors• He said the group was against statutory regulation of the press but admitted the PCC needs to be "beefed up"• Lord Justice Leveson will hear evidence from 21 witnesses next week, including celebrities Hugh Grant and JK Rowling • The inquiry will also hear from Alistair Campbell and former Information Commissioner Richard Thomas next month

He points out that on October 8, the paper's front page headline read: "-20C to hit us in weeks" and on November 2: "Big Siberian freeze to hit Britain". But, just 10 days later, the paper reported: "November to be warmest in 363 years".

Private investigator Steve Whittamore was given a two-year conditional discharge in 2005 after he was found guilty of obtaining and disclosing information under the Data Protection Act by the Met’s Operation Motorman.

A subsequent report by the Information Commissioner found the majority of requests – both legal and illegal – were from journalists, with the Daily Mail topping the list with 952 entries from 85 journalists and the Mail on Sunday in third place with 266 requests from 33 journalists.

Jonathan Caplan QC said there was no evidence of illegal requests by Mail staff

The poll, carried out by American broadcaster PBS, revealed that three in four people in the UK think media outlets "sometimes or frequently lie to their audiences".

Over half say the content of the UK press has been dumbed down recently, while 17% say they will be less likely to consult newspapers - instead turning to websites, TV and radio - for their current affairs news in 2012.

Just 38% of people surveyed by PBS said they trusted British newspapers

13.36 Lord Justice Leveson has set out a list of key questions he is hoping to address in Part One of his inquiry. They are divided into three sections:

• Culture, practices and ethics: How do newsrooms operate? Do commercial pressures have an impact? What is the role of reader loyalty and newspaper competition? What is the impact of 24-hour news on journalism? What happens when a printed story turns out to be false? How are ethics taught among journalists?

• Standards: Should the press be subject to additional standards? What do journalists think of the Editors' Code of Practice? Would regulation - like that imposed on broadcasters - really have a chilling effect on free speech?

• Public interest: What is the proper role played by the press in a democratic society? Is it ever in the public interest for journalists to do things that are otherwise unethical? Who should be responsible for making these decisions?

Lord Justice Leveson (centre) and his panel of six advisers

13.14 Here is the full text of Robert Jay QC's 71-page opening statement from yesterday's hearing:

13.10 Francesca Unsworth, the head of newsgathering at the BBC, has warned that the Leveson Inquiry represents the most serious examination of media regulation and ethics journalists have ever experienced.

Ulrika Jonsson is named as a 'core participant' after alleged hacking by the NotW

12.40 James Dingemans QC will speak at 3.15pm on behalf of Express newspapers.

According to his online profile, Mr Dingemans is both a deputy High Court judge and head of his chambers, 3 Hare Court, where he practises constitutional law, civil liberties and human rights litigation.

12.30 In case you missed it, here is a clip of Rhodri Davies QC apologising to the victims of phone hacking:

12.12 Here's a quick round up of this morning's proceedings.

Rhodri Davies QC, acting for News International, opened by apologising to the victims of phone hacking done by or on behalf of News of the World journalists. He said phone hacking was "wrong", "shameful" and "should never have happened".

Mr Davies queried submissions by Robert Jay QC yesterday that 28 News International journalists were named in the notebooks of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire - he said NI thought it was only five. He asked for the numbers to be re-checked.

Next up was Jonathan Caplan QC, acting for Associated Newspapers. He urged Lord Justice Leveson not to compare phone hacking with Operation Motorman, in which the names of more than 300 journalists - many from the Daily Mail - were found in files belonging to private investigator Steve Whittamore.

He said there was no evidence journalists ever asked Whittamore to do anything illegal, and none of his tasks were "fishing expeditions" for the newspaper.

Mr Caplan also turned to the issue of press regulation, admitted the PCC needed to be "beefed up", but saying Associated Newspapers was not in favour of statutory regulation.

Rhodri Davies QC, giving evidence for News International at the Leveson Inquiry

She will appear in the witness box next week after being contacted by detectives from Operation Weeting to explain that her personal details were found in a notebook owned by Glenn Mulcaire.

Smith says she "could hardly believe her eyes", given that she was writing for The Times at the time:

Not long before our details began to appear in Mulcaire's notes, I wrote a column for The Times about press intrusion into private life... Little did I know that my own privacy was about to be invaded by a newspaper owned by the very same proprietor. I hope Lord Leveson's inquiry will look at the buccaneering newsroom culture that allowed such extraordinary things to happen.

Monday marked 'a minor landmark for open justice', claimed blogging barrister Adam Wagner, on the UK Human Rights blog. 'For the first time, a public inquiry is being shown live over the internet.'

The Inquiry’s website includes information about the People involved; Hearings; Evidence; Rulings; Key Documents; Events; and Attending the Hearings...The site’s clear navigation and the Inquiry’s proactive and fast release of documents help both legal transparency and public involvement.

Lord Justice Leveson has allowed journalists to tweet from the hearing

Of course the PCC can be made more effective. We strongly advocate that it does not need to be replaced; it needs to be, and is capable of being, beefed up.

Mr Dacre [Paul Dacre, editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail] has alrady suggested at one of your seminars that improvements could be made by creating an industry ombudsman who could work with the committee and investigate in serious cases, with the power to impose sanctions and costs orders.

It is unacceptable that any newspaper owner should be allowed to opt out of self-regulation.

Paul Dacre, editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail, speaking at an inquiry seminar

11.12 Jonathan Caplan QC continues, saying he does not agree with witness anonymity:

If journalists have important evidence to give, we would encourage them to give evidence as openly as possible. We remain keen to explore alternative avenues for meeting any concerns which may be expressed by any potential witnesses.

Lord Justice Leveson admits that anonymous evidence would carry "far less weight" but says he will deal with the issue on a case-by-case basis.

11.08 Martin Evans tweets Caplan's words from Court 73. He is talking about the Mail's position on press misbehaviour:

"It does not bribe police officers and in particular condemns the shameful practice of hacking the mobile phones of the victims of crime."

11.04 Back to Operation Motorman, the 2003 investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office into allegations of offences under the Data Protection Act by the British press.

Caplan is keen to distance Motorman from hacking - he says the information Whittamore obtained for Associated Newspapers could have been found legally. He also notes that there is no evidence journalists ever asked him to do anything illegal, and none of his tasks were "fishing expeditions".

Steve Whittamore worked with The Daily Mail, Operation Motorman found

10.57 Caplan defends journalism in general:

We are anxious that the allegations of phone hacking should not be allowed to besmirch the profession as a whole. The Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday are commercially successful, we submit, precisely because they connect with their readership and their values.

Even in the middle market, newspapers at times need to be gossipy and sensational if they are to attract the readership.

Jonathan Caplan QC gives evidence for Associated Newspapers

10.52 Martin Evans tweets:

The #Leveson inquiry is of fundamental importance not just to journalists but also to our democratic way of life, Mr Caplan says.

10.47 Another history lesson for Lord Justice Leveson. Caplan says:

This is, as you know, the fourth commission on the press since the Second World War. That potted history demonstrates that concerns about press standards and concerns about the kind of stories that the press wrote are nothing new. But on each occasion, statutory regulation has been seen as a step too far.

10.42 Jonathan Caplan QC is now giving evidence on behalf of Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Daily Mail, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and Metro.

His junior counsel is called Sarah Palin; obviously not the American Republican politician.

Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, who withdrew from the US Presidential race

10.40 Davies rounds up his evidence:

Our plea is for the press not to be over-regulated; it is not for it to be above the law... We will not hide from the worst that has gone in the past, but we hope to help plot a course that will allow a free and vigourous press to flourish in the future.

10.38 In response to Davies' comments about the need to control bloggers, Guido Fawkes tweets:

Being a professional blogger is like being a journalist except with better job security. #Leveson

Tragically the News of the World managed to plumb both the depths and the heights. There are many other examples of investigative journalism from thalidomide to MPs' expenses, but despite those triumphs, perhaps the question we should ask is that question posed by the editor of the Times, James Harding, in his submissions to this committee - which is not 'why did the press know so much?' but 'why did it know so little?'

The MPs' expenses scandal was one of the triumphs of investigative journalism

10.30 Davies points to the "constitutional principle" that the press should be free from government regulation.

Lord Justice Leveson is not happy about being taken back to the media world of 1643. He puts Davies back on track:

I'd be very keen to widen the debate from the binary discussion - staturory regulation: bad, self-regulation: good - to understanding what is meant by 'statutory regulation' and whether everybody is talking about the same thing.

10.25 Telegraph reporter Martin Evans tweets from the courtroom:

Mr Davies says: "The PCC can be improved, it is not perfect but the alternatives are not perfect either."

10.20 Davies is being candid about phone hacking at News International:

I am not going to give any guarantees that there was no phone hacking by or on behalf of the News of the World after 2007.

Nonetheless it does look as though lessons were learnt when Mr Goodman and Mr Mulcaire went to jail. If phone hacking continued after that, it was not, as Mr Jay suggested, the 'thriving cottage industry' that existed beforehand.

Clive Goodman, the former NotW royal reporter, was jailed in 2007

10.17 Davies is telling the hearing about measures News International took in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, including appointing Linklaters to carry out an internal investigation.

He continues:

The position of News International is that is supports the principle of self-regulation for the press. It accepts that the PPC can be improved, it is not perfect.

The press is not above the law. Like all other citizens it is constrained by both the civil and the criminal law of the land, and over the last 15 years or so the law has developed to provide protection in areas where there are concerns over press behaviour.

10.10 He says the company also disputes Robert Jay QC's revelations that the Sun newspaper may also have been involved in hacking.

The issue concerns material that is not in the public domain, so it cannot be discussed at the inquiry, he says.

10.08 Davies says News International would like to have a few of the numbers stated yesterday re-checked.

Here's a reminder of some of those figures:

2,266: Number of times Glenn Mulcaire was allegedly tasked with carrying out private investigations28: Number of legible corner names in his notebooks4: Number of journalists who apparently account for 2,143 of the taskings586: Number of voicemails, intended for 64 different people, intercepted by Mulcaire between 2001 and 2009

Yesterday's statement has occasioned some surprise on our side. We do not have all the notebooks, but we knew that there were five legible corner names which could be correlated with News of the World reporters' names, those being Mr Goodman's name and A to D.

#Leveson says Trojan virus scare may have only constituted a corrupt file

10.02 Today's hearing has started.

First up is Rhodri Davies QC, a barrister from One Essex Court acting for News International. He opens with the following:

In public, I should repeat on behalf of News International the apologies which have been made to all those whose phones were hacked by or at the behest of staff working at the News of the World. That phone hacking was wrong; it was shameful; it should never have happened. News International apologises for it unreservedly. Nothing which is said on its behalf during this inquiry is intended to detract from it in any way.

Crucially, he adds:

We accept that phone hacking at the News of the World was not the work of a single rogue reporter.

Sarah Lyall writes that although the Sun and the Mirror were mentioned, their "potential malfeasance appears to have paled beside that of The News of The World". She says:

The inquiry, led by Lord Justice Leveson, is one of three started since The Guardian newspaper disclosed in July that The News of the World had illegally hacked into the phone of a murdered teenager, Milly Dowler, in 2002, while she was missing but before her body had been found.

The disclosure caused a wave of revulsion and led, ultimately, to the closing of The News of the World, the resignation of top officials at News International and the Metropolitan Police Service, the withdrawal of News Corporation’s $12 billion bid to acquire the satellite company British Sky Broadcasting, and the dissolution of the close ties between News Corporation and the British political establishment.

The American press focuses on Ruper Murdoch's crumbling media empire

09.30 Ross Hawkins, the BBC's political correspondent, points out a ruling on the inquiry website showing that Lord Justice Leveson will be willing to accept anonymous evidence.

He tweets:

#leveson up from 10. Ruling (not new but now on wsite) confirms journos have asked to give evidence anonymously to contradict editors

The paper devotes a double-page spread to yesterday's hearing, including a 'hacking in numbers' section which reminds us 5,795 potential hacking targets have been named to date.

Sketchwriter Amelia Hill takes a comic look at the interruption of proceedings by the alleged "trojan horse" virus found by David Sherborne QC on his computer. She also reminds us that Bob Dowler, the father of Milly, was at the hearing:

But the calm, dignified presence of Bob Dowler - whose daughter, Milly, would not be 23 years old had she not disappeared on 21 March 2002, her remains to be found six months later - silently cut through the suppressed tension and bustle that accompanied the first day of the Leveson inquiry.

An imposing figure, Dowler's presence quietly held the room to account, reminding the assembled throng why they were here.

The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler

Leveson also appears on the front page of The Independent under the imposing headine: 'The Press on Trial'. Another double-page spread and an accompanying sketch by Simon Carr detail the main points of yesterday's hearing.

In The Times, the focus is on the allegations that hacking may extend to journalists at The Sun and Trinity Mirror Group, while the Daily Mail leads on Robert Jay QC's description of phone hacking as "a cottage industry".

09.10 Here is a quick round-up of the main points to come out of yesterday's proceedings:

• Robert Jay QC said phone hacking was a "thriving cottage industry" at News International• He said the names of 28 NI journalists were found in the notebooks of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who carried out over 2,000 covert activities for just four reporters• The names of Sun and Daily Mirror journalists were also found in Mulcaire's notebooks, Jay said• Tougher press regulation may be needed, Jay said, adding that the PCC "needs more teeth"• The Leveson Inquiry will not be confined to phone hacking but will look at all aspects of media ethics• Witnesses, including 'fake sheikh' Mazher Mahmood, and core participants will start giving evidence next Monday• Newspapers were warned not to target witnesses, particularly journalists who speak out about employers• Lord Justice Leveson said the main aim of the inquiry is to find out "who guards the guardians?"• Neil Garnham QC, acting for the Met Police, said the force would assist the inquiry to ensure a "healthy relationship" between police and the press in future

The inquiry takes place in Court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice, London

09.05Lord Justice Leveson, the man behind the inquiry, will hear a second day of evidence from leading counsel Robert Jay QC.

The next three months will see witness statements from a group of newspaper proprietors, editors, journalists and "core participants", many of whom are alleged victims of phone hacking and other press misbehaviour.

Among the witnesses, due to appear from next week, are Hugh Grant, JK Rowling and Christopher Jefferies.

Today's submissions are expected to come from Jonathan Caplan QC, acting for Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, a lawyer for News International and The Daily Telegraph.

Lord Justice Leveson prosecuted serial killer Rose West in 1995

09.00 Welcome to our rolling coverage of the second day of the Leveson Inquiry, live from the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The public inquiry into journalistic ethics was launched in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that engulfed News International in July and August.